ch 29

The streets of the capital of Blood Country bristled with activity. Merchants and miners of all races and countries teemed around. Blood Country was famous for its precious metals, and the capital was the best place for both sellers and buyers from around the world to come.

Naruto recognized garb from Sunagakure, as well as a few merchants who might have been from Konohagakure. He ducked his head lower, pulling the hood over his bright yellow hair just as an armed patrol walked by menacingly. His friends had agreed that using a Genjutsu disguise was too risky, as there might be guards who could sense the chakra use. Naruto wasn't the most skilled at such low level chakra use anyway. A large cloak and hood kept him from prying eyes while he slipped into the cafe they'd agreed to meet in.

As he stepped through the doors his eyes adjusted quickly to the darker room. The room had a light fog to it, probably due to the scattered cigarette smokers littered around the room. In the corner he spied Sakura and walked over.

"Are we the only ones here so far?" he asked quietly. The decision to split up was also agreed upon. The guards would be looking for a group traveling together, not individuals.

"So far," Sakura nodded, her pink hair hidden beneath an oddly shaped hat that pulled down around her ears. She looked up at Naruto, surprised to only now notice that he was slightly taller than her.

"When did you outgrow me?" she asked quietly.

Naruto smiled. "I..I don't quite know! Ha ha," he laughed quietly and stood up a little straighter, the deeper meaning of her question lost on him.

She locked her eyes on him, forcing him to face the truth until he finally looked away.

"Those soldiers," she said softly. "We didn't need to kill them. We could have gone around."

"And then what?" Naruto answered, his gaze becoming icy as he turned back to face her. "They'd have gone on and found someone else to murder. Why should we allow these…monsters… to roam free? A sense of morality? No, someone has to stand up to them. Stop them. Punish them."

"But why you?" she asked, genuine sadness in her voice.

Naruto looked out the doorway as someone talking loudly walked by the entrance. "Because someone has to do it. Because I can."

"Naruto," she said, still quiet. "Is this who you are now?"

He looked into her eyes, his steely glint softening. "It is who I need to be Sakura."

"Are you sure?" Her hand touched his.

The door swung open and Senjii walked in with Hiroka on his arm. Their disguise as a bickering couple made all the more realistic with the added bickering that they were doing. Naruto spied them and waved them over. Sakura withdrew her hand quietly and smiled at her fighting friends, wondering when they would get their act together.

Nagi walked down the street looking as inconspicuous as possible. He blended in very well with the populace, his skin matching theirs, his hair as well. He'd liberated some robes that covered his Tengoku gear from a clothes line some streets back. This gave him a good chance to see what the Capital of his family's former Kingdom had become.

Much like the village they'd passed through, most of the faces here were vacant, and listless. The people walked about their tasks, but without any zeal or zest. It was as if they were all already dead, just waiting for their bodies to catch up to that reality.

He came across a child that was sitting by a fountain. There was not even any water flowing in the fountain. The child was watching passersby with an emotionless stare. It made Nagi's heart ache for that child, and these people. Someone should help them. Would that person be him? Did he want this Kingdom back? It was a thought that had crossed his mind, but he'd not allowed himself to focus on it. He had one goal here, the death of the man who killed his mother and father and sister.

A ruckus approached and he ducked into the shadows of a building. A contingent of capital guards were marching by, making a big show of it. An old man who could not get out of the way fast enough was pushed into the dirt of the street while the guards laughed and kept on marching.

Nagi restrained his anger, and watched as the people went about the business, no one even looking at the old man in the street struggling to get to his feet. He fought with his inner thoughts, knowing he should ignore it and go meet Naruto and the others, but his good nature won out and he stepped out of the shadows and gripped the man's arm. He pulled the man to his feet, and helped him settle.

"Thank you young man," the old man looked at Nagi and appeared startled. "Why, you're the spitting image of the Old King."

Nagi backed away, "Yeah... really... well I get that sometimes. Funny huh?"

The old man looked at him again and shrugged. "Funny. Yes. Thank you for your help. Here..." He dug into his pocket and pulled out a silver coin. "For your trouble. If my grandson were here he would have helped me up the way you did. This is his customary reward."

Nagi raised his hands "No, no. I couldn't possibly," he turned to keep going.

The old man took a step towards him holding out the coin. "But I insist young man. You must."

Nagi sighed, and reached out for the coin. He didn't want to cause a scene. As his fingers touched the coin he felt a shock arc through his body. Every nerve screamed in agony as electricity coursed through every fiber of his being. He collapsed in a fidgeting heap.

The old man also fell to the ground, but more like a limp rag doll. Nagi managed to see that the old man's eyes were open but unseeing. He was dead.

"Over here! Over here!" The child who was people watching earlier was shouting. A small crowd had gathered around Nagi, who was unable to control his body still. The guards from earlier came running. They saw Nagi convulsing on the ground and the leader grinned madly. He motioned to his squad and one at the back who held a backpack stepped forward. He pulled out a white device and laid it against Nagi's chest. Straps snapped out of it automatically and wrapped around his body. He immediately felt a drain. An all too familiar drain.

"A...a...chak..chakra ...inhi...inhibitor..." he stuttered out, the convulsions easing.

The head guardsman laughed. "Yes. Don't want you using any tricks, your former highness."

Nagi looked at the dead old man again. "What...what did you do? How?"

The guardsman motioned for the others to pick Nagi up. "Every citizen was made aware that you were coming. These coins," he reached in his pocket and pulled out an exact replica, "were handed out. It incapacitates the intended victim. At the cost of the other person holding the coin of course, it has to get energy from somewhere." He kicked the old man's body. "But no big loss am I right?" he laughed as they dragged a helpless Nagi to the castle.

After they'd left, the street returned to 'normal', the citizens and witnesses going back to their meager existence, not even bothering to gossip about the capture of their rightful ruler nor the inconsequential death of one of their own. The child had even gone back to the empty fountain like nothing had happened at all. Such was their lives that apathy won out over everything else.

An hour later everyone was gathered in the back room of the cafe. Almost everyone, there was one conspicuous absence.

"Where is Nagi?" Naruto asked, concern echoing in his tone.

Senjii peeked his head back into the main room from the doorway, shaking it. Naruto clenched his fists, resisting the urge to race out into the streets and start searching for his friend himself. The cafe was empty now except for his team and the owner who recognized the danger that they represented and chose to stay on the far side of the room reading a newspaper.

"Five more minutes," he said, glancing at the clock on the wall.

N'uihc sat quietly, not needing to look at the clock, his body knowing the correct time instinctively.

"There is no need my Lord Tenshikage. He is not coming," N'uihc said evenly. "My student would not embarrass me by being late willingly. He has either been killed or captured. This is my own fault, if I had trained him better this would not have happened."

Naruto looked at N'uihc hard. "Nagi is not dead." He turned to the door.

"Senjii!"he barked. "Find me someone to interrogate."

Five minutes later Senjii stepped back into the room with a struggling guard that he slapped across the face a few times. He threw him down onto the ground where Calamity kicked the guard in the ribs before grabbing him by the collar and lifting him.

"Have you heard anything about a new prisoner?" Naruto growled at the man, his eyes taking on a reddish glow.

To his credit, the guard held out for thirty seconds before wetting himself.

Nagi was alive. He was captured an hour ago and sent to the castle. They had been on the lookout for him specifically. He looks so much like the old King that he was the easiest to find. The new King was going to kill him.

Calamity bashed the guard on his temple, sending him into dreamland and turned to find all of her friends strapping on their gear and shedding their disguises. N'uihc was instructing Kenichi to stay close to him at all times and to observe. To his credit the boy showed no fear.

"The time for deception and sneaking is past." Naruto declared. He flexed his fists and reached behind his jacket, pulling out a round tube that was pure white. With a flick it expanded to full staff size. Calamity gasped, it was a heavenstone staff. Its unbreakable surface as smooth as glass. Perfect for someone who kept breaking his wooden staffs like Naruto did.

"Where did you get that?" Calamity asked.

"Yoshi," was all Naruto said, twirling it absently in his hands then collapsing it and putting it back under his jacket. "We must get to Nagi fast. Any ideas?"

"The castle is right up the road. Why don't we just knock?" Sakura suggested.

Senjii looked out the window to the castle walls within the city. He flexed his fingers, feeling the song of the twin kodaichi at his sides, knowing they longed for battle, any battle, this battle.

"OK. So..." he turned to Naruto. "Front door?"

Naruto grinned.

"Front door."

BOOM!

The sound echoed throughout the entire city, vibrations knocking down anything that wasn't too heavy, and if there was any glass windows anywhere they all probably would have cracked at the very least. The heavy oak doors to the castle were fifty feet high with reinforced beams across them. To their credit, they had stood the test of time, protecting the castle from marauders, invading armies and the like for over a century. The wood was petrified and oiled, harder than all but the best steel. It had served its purpose. Until today.

Deadly splinters flew down the main path inside the castle walls, massacring the small platoon stationed in front of it, clouds of sawdust filling the air. In the midst of the clearing dust stood Sakura, fist still outstretched.

"Nice knock." Hiroka grinned at her friend and teammate.

The path ahead remained empty. Clearly inviting them to go straight to the King's Castle. Naruto was only too happy to oblige the open invitation.

From the open gate poured hundreds and hundreds of clones. They filled the path and ran straight down the road. Within seconds a crossfire of arrows and cannon fire drilled into the horde of clones. The horde stopped and then began to spread into the side streets. Incredibly the pops of smoke that indicated a clone dispersing appeared less and less as more clones poured in, taking on and subduing the palace militia.

"How are they avoiding those arrows?" Calamity asked Naruto.

He shrugged. "My clones know the same tricks I do. Like my Hiraishin. So they're popping up behind the line of fire."

After a few terrible minutes of fighting, the sounds of battle receded further and further away from the main pathway.

"That should keep them busy. My clones will mop up the army outside here, while we go in," Naruto said, his smile slipping from his face as he looked down the path into the castle. His eyes taking on that serious glint again. Nagi's life hung in the balance.

"Let's go."

Nagi spat the blood out of his mouth and onto the boot of the man who called himself his 'cousin'. The Blood King laughed.

"It really is remarkable how much you look like your father." The King bent down and hit Nagi across the face again. "Why did you come back here?" kicking him in the side of his face as he asked.

Nagi felt the pain lance through his head as the boot connected, stars appearing in his eyes as he skidded across the concrete floor. The chakra inhibiting device on his chest glowed bright white, a gift for the Blood King from his friends in Snow Country. As an added precaution, he also had steel handcuffs that held his wrists together behind his back cutting deeply into his skin, the blood making them slick but not any less tight.

"For revenge?" the King stalked over. "To take back your Kingdom?" he laughed. "What could you possibly hope to accomplish here?" He spread his arms and pointed out the window.

"Do you see outside? You must have seen what this country has become. It burns. The entire country is at a slow burn. I have made it so. The people fear me, and that is the only thing keeping them in line. Knowing who their one true master is."

"What could you possibly do in the face of my might, boy?" he knelt down and held Nagi's head in his hands. "What? Cousin?" he punched Nagi in the face again, collapsing him into a heap. The King stood and walked calmly back to his throne, pulling out a long sword.

"How fitting that your father's sword be the one to reunite you with your parents. It's positively karmic."

"Your Majesty! There has been a breach at the gate! Intruders are overrunning the guards!" a guard burst into the room and declared.

The King lowered his sword and grinned. "They're here," he nodded to the five shadowy figures to the left of the room. They disappeared in a flash. He looked back at Nagi. "I think we'll prolong this just a little bit longer, and let you see the heads of your friends lined up before you before I cut yours off as well."

"If it's all the same to you," Lash said lazily. He stood off to the right next to his brother Scorpion. "We'll just wait here for his friends to show up."

"At that point, you can ask for our help and owe Emperor Danzo...everything." Scorpion smirked.

The Blood King laughed again. "We shall see."

"Yes. Yes we shall," Lash replied, looking out of the window.

The corridor was eerily quiet compared to the noise of the fighting outside. The group from Tengoku raced quietly along it, the shadows from torches dancing along the red walls. It didn't take long for the corridor to end and gave way to a large hall. In the middle of the hall stood a single man. He was short at maybe five foot three, his sword in his scabbard.

He pointed to Senjii.

Naruto turned to his friend. "We can't wait, Nagi needs us."

"Go ahead, I won't be long." Senjii said in anticipation.

The group from Tengoku ran around the swordsman and up the large regal stairs to the next floor, leaving Senjii alone. Senjii flexed his fingers and smiled wryly at the man across the room.

"Senjii Makato, the Dark Blade," he said quietly.

"Daibetsu Sichhu, the Blood Letter," was the man's reply. He drew his sword and took a ready stance. Senjii touched his fingers to his twin kodachi and bent at the knees.

The men disappeared in a blur and flash of steel.

Naruto and his team raced up the stairs at the top there was another short corridor and a door. They stepped through and entered what had to be a waiting area. Standing in the middle was a huge hulk of a man. He sneered at them.

"Who amongst you is the strongest?" he bellowed. He stamped his foot hard on the stone floor and the room shook. "Come let me tear you apart! Ha Ha Ha!"

Naruto growled and was about to step forward when Sakura stopped him.

"No Naruto, you have to save Nagi." She stepped forward. The man held up his hand.

"No no. Not you little girl. Let a man face me."

Sakura's face grew stormy she punched her fist into the other. A small boom filled the room and air rushed outwards. The man stopped smiling and looked at her anew. He flexed his fists.

"OK," he pointed at a door at the other end of the room.

"Where are they keeping Nagi!?" Naruto demanded.

"Throne room. Top floor. Just keep following the doors. Now leave." He licked his lips looking Sakura up and down, judging. "I think I'm going to have some fun."

Naruto turned red and toyed with the idea of just ripping the man's head off, but Sakura caught his eye and shook her head. She wanted to fight him. Naruto trusted her to do what needed to be done, and took off with Calamity, Hiroka, N'uihc and Kenichi trailing behind him. N'uihc glanced at the two fighters, Sakura and the large man and then didn't spare another glance. The Tenshikage was allowing his fighters to do their jobs and trusting them to do it, as he should. He approved and hoped his new apprentice was watching. There was much honor to be learned here.

As they raced down the long corridor, Naruto had a few seconds to think. Despite what N'uihc assumed Naruto hadn't had time to process everything as yet, instead acting on instinct and gut. The enemy was throwing up individual obstacles to try to divide them and eliminate them one by one. He was purposely ignoring the comparison to the last mission he'd taken as a ninja of Konoha, the one that ended with his banishment. In spite of the outcome, all those individual fights back then were won by the good guys in the end, despite the overwhelming odds they'd been up against and were up against now. There was a chance each was a trap, and he was leaving his friends to die. But, if he stopped to fight anyone and for whatever reason it took time, Nagi could be dead by the time they got to him.

He had to trust his friends.